Zoom Gear & Home Recording Forum

It's my sad duty to let everyone know that our friend and fellow
musician, Riffmaster (Rob White) has passed away.

I had been trying to reach him for a couple of months and finally sent
him a snailmail. His brother answered it:

My brother, Rob, died of cancer on December 16, 2008. Please
feel free to pass this info on to your fellow members. If his connection
to you was of a musical nature, I would like to know what it was.

Here is a link to Riff's Soundclick page:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default ... dID=467690

(Edited by Tony to add two more links)

This one is his cover band
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default ... dID=686737

This is "Riff's Crap"
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default ... dID=594504



I know I speak for all of us when I say that this news saddens me greatly.




R.I.P, Riff. We'll miss you.

Sad and shocking news, Mike.
Riffy was not only a great musician, but also a trusted and loyal friend, always ready for a collab.
I will miss him greatly!

jb

RIP Riff....play a blues for us.

Rob wrote me about a month before he died to let me know he had developed Cancer. He stated that he wasn't going to let it slow him down, but alas it has. I was going to paste his email here, but the forum only retains 2 pages worth and it is now *gone. He didn't want me to tell anybody or make a statement himself so I asked the only other person I thought might have a connection to him see if he could make any headway after not hearing back from him either through the Forum or his personal email after a month. That person is Unstablxxx.

I consider Rob one of my closest and truest friends here and many of you know that he was a one hell of lead guitarist. I had hoped to have him play on a tune ready for completion and sent it to him just a few days prior to his being diagnosed.
He said to send away as his "plate was empty".
It was my honor to have known Rob. And most of you will agree, he was valuable member and made this place better by his very presence.
I'm sorry you had to do this Mike, but it may have been easier (read better) for you as I can't hold back my tears or be as eloquent as yourself.
This truly is one of the saddest days here.




*If Zoe could get into his sent box, it would be wonderful if I could have a copy of it.

I'm am speechless. This is terrible news. Rock on, Riff.


Mike, will you pass my song on to Riff's brother, or list the email so I can.

Riff and I did "Making It Hard" together.

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=4397350

I am so sad.

As of right now, I only have a snail mail address for Rob's brother, Benny.
I intend to write him back with my (and our) condolences. Also, from the
tone of Benny's letter, I'm assuming that he has no idea of Riff's on-line
musical activities. I'm going to give him all the Riff links I can drum up as
well as an invitation to stop by here at the Forum.

M

Thanks Mike.

It seems that the last song Riff posted was his rocking cover of "Rock and Raw". That is both an honor and heartbreaking:

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=6906018



Riff actually PM'd me to ask if he could do a cover of "Rock and Raw". He didn't tell me about the HMHS. He said he was keeping it a secret until he posted it, but he wanted to ask me if would be okay first. I just read my PM back to him (here it is):

"Message subject: Re: Cover Of Rock And Raw
From: The Cracks
Sent: Sat Sep 13, 2008 9:14 pm
To: Riffmaster

Message

frak A!

Yes. Can't wait.

Thanks Riff.

One sentiment that I want to express. I don't think home recording will ever be as fun for me as it was about the time we did "Making It Hard". I remember Riff sent me his music track on a Saturday morning, and we went back and forth for a few hours, and by that early afternoon we had a song. It happened with others too, and even my own, during that time. It was magical really. I had the new PS04 and things were popping right and left. I'll miss Riff and those magical days.

dammit
just bummed by this.
I was thinking the other day that it had been a long time since he'd posted.

'poison I adore' still gives me that lovely little chill when I listen to it.

sad to see him go.

Thanks for letting us know, mike

RIP Riff

You were,still are and always will be a rock legend on this forum.

Nick

Shocked to hear this sad news.

Riffmaster was one of the "faces of the forum" when I first ventured around here, and it almost goes without saying that he was an outstanding musician and home recorder. "Pervs and Pornos" is still frequently to be heard coming from my ipod.

He'll be very much missed.

Rock on Riff

Gary.

I'm still in shock. Really a terrible loss to all of us, as well as his family. He was a great guy and a great musician and will be sorely missed.

Ordinarily I would not go into someone else's account, but given the circumstances I retrieved the message that Sungod mentioned. Here it is (with a few spelling corrections, sorry Riff):



Rob, we'll all miss you.

Thanks, Zo.

I'm sitting here in tears.

I only worked with Rob once and he was great guy to work with. Mike and I had been talking about a new Z3 collab with him but Mike was getting concerned then that Riff hadn't replied. Now we know why.

A real shock and a real loss to the forum. The world will be a quieter place without him.

My condolences to his family.

RIP Riff.

Cheers

Dick

Mine too. Make sure you pass that on to his brother when you write him, Mike.
I wish I would've known. I would've wanted to pray for him.

jb

Yes, mine too.

Wow, this is sad news ... crud, I hate hearing this. He will be missed. Thanks for sharing this information!

James.

I am really really sorry to hear this. Wow.
I was wondering why we hadn't heard from him in such a while....


Maceman